Little Bosses and Little Monsters

At dawn on the second day, Shu Jing and Tian Wang opened their eyes at the same time, eased their sleepiness, kissed a tacit understanding kiss, and then got up.But before he stepped out of the door, a girl's scream came from the direction of the study, piercing the cool morning air.

As soon as he entered the study, he saw Xiaohe standing by the door, hugging Youjie and Zhujian like a doll in his arms, and seeing Shu Jing, Xiaohe lowered his eyelashes.

"You are a little curious."

Xiaoyouyi shrank back into Xiaohe's arms, only revealing a pair of big black grape-like eyes.

Pepe sat on the ground, holding her quilt, her face turned pale.

Tianwang's eyes flickered, and he comforted Pepe with a smile: "This is a little pet in our store, it's very good, don't be afraid."

Peipei seemed a little overwhelmed. She stared blankly at the sky for a moment, took a few deep breaths, and then stammered: "No, it's okay, I didn't expect... I was just shocked. Your pet It's so special. I haven't dared to sleep for several days, and when I woke up, I thought I was still at home."

"Well, you'll be fine once you get used to it."

"However, brother Tianwang..." Peipei looked at him and asked doubtfully, "Have you grown up?"

Tianwang: "..."

Girl, your reflex arc is very long.

Peipei jumped up from the ground, her eyeballs almost stuck to Tianwang's body: "How long have I not seen you? Three months? Half a year? Why do you look like you are taking hormones?"

Tianwang said blankly, "Oh, I developed relatively late."

Shu Jing looked at his back with dissatisfaction, if Tianwang's previous height was still underdeveloped, then he was not disabled.

Peipei didn't seem to accept this explanation, but she didn't say anything else, but offered to get up and help Xiaohe prepare to open the store.

A temporarily safe sanctuary made the girl look much more energetic than last night, and she seemed a little excited and eager to try when she was gearing up.They didn't know what happened to her family. Judging from yesterday's situation, it seemed that she was even escaping some kind of pursuit. With the pampered and pampered young lady before, it was hard to imagine how she spent the past few days, with a dazed and preconceived expression Maybe it would make her ignore Tianwang's appearance changes in the dark night.

The progress of thought is huge, but the follow-up speed of body needs to be improved.Peipei enthusiastically helped Xiaohe unlock the door, grabbed the feather duster, and swept the room in a disorderly manner.

"Ah..." Shu Jing felt that the nasal mucosa was stimulated by dust and chicken feathers at the same time.

Xiaohe looked at the empty palm, a moment of bewilderment appeared on his face, and then he lowered his head and went to the backyard.

Shu Jing exchanged a look with Tian Wang, and followed.

"Xiaohe, what's the matter?"

Xiaohe was silent.

Shu Jing intuited the girl's thoughts: "Is it because you are not used to Peipei living here?"

Xiao He shook his head.

"Are you upset because of Youji?"

"No."

A girl's heart, a sea needle.

Shu Jing tilted her head, and carefully looked at the expression on Xiaohe's drooping face—faint, inconspicuous, and disappointed.

"Because Pepe did your job, didn't he?" he asked softly.

Xiaohe didn't speak this time.

Shu Jing laughed.The bluegrass in the courtyard nodded against the wind, and a petite flower bud quietly emerged from the dense leaves at some point.

"I remember at the beginning, I asked who are you waiting for here, you said your family went far away, did they come back later?"

Xiaohe shook his head.

She stayed on the same scorched earth day and night, and played homecoming songs for relatives far away, but year after year, she did not see those familiar figures reappearing at the entrance of Yulin Alley.

"Will you now tell me where they went?"

Xiaohe lowered her head, and rarely hugged Youji, who followed behind her obediently without making a sound, looking at her little master worriedly, and tightly clutching Xiaohe's rust-red thick cotton skirt with one hand .

Xiaohe's eyes wandered from the bluestone under her feet to the entire courtyard. Wherever she looked, she seemed to see time churning against the current, setting off layers of turbid waves. The yard was excavated and rebuilt into another look.Bluestone has turned into yellow earth, Mazar has become a wooden bench, orchid gardens have become peppers, tomatoes and shallots, and there are small rocking horses with tassels and brass bells.

In the yard, she saw a seven or eight-year-old boy supporting another girl who was still unable to walk clearly, holding her small fleshy hand and guiding her forward. She saw a woman in a blue jacket holding her hand With her hair in a bun, she walked out of the house, cut two shallots from the vegetable garden, and stood at the simple stove under the eaves to cook vegetables. Pour a bowl of ribs into the hot oil, pour soy sauce and sugar on it, and sizzled. The fragrance overflowed in a visible form, the greedy worm in the boy's mouth was so hooked that he couldn't hold it, he couldn't remember his sister at once, he let go and hugged his mother's thigh, where did the little girl think, she fell to the ground, the new The clothes were also dirty, and the little bun was messed up, and she cried "Wow", and her little face was immediately stained.A man with bare arms came in from the door carrying a pole, laughed and picked up the little girl, and kissed her face like a kitten without any dislike.

She saw the artillery fire exploding in the distance, shaking the entire small town, and shattering those peaceful days. Uneasiness permeated the humid air of Haicheng, filling people's lungs, as if many stones had been stuffed into them.The grown-up boy was wearing a military uniform and carrying simple luggage, hugging his weeping mother. His father was holding his younger sister and standing beside him with a stubborn and cold face, but his eyes were red and his lips were trembling.The younger sister, who is not familiar with the world, still doesn't understand what happened. Her little hand hurts from being squeezed by her father, but she dare not speak.Until her brother walked out of the alley, she suddenly had the feeling that she would never see her brother again. She cried and called her brother, the figure paused, and then left without looking back.The younger sister looked at the back of the man with tears in her eyes, as if she saw a huge change from a boy to a man in just a dozen steps, and then she realized that the naughty brother who caused trouble and only cared about food had unknowingly Grow very tall.

She saw that a few years later, the guarding army was broken into pieces, and the yellow army poured into the city like an unstoppable mudslide. Along with the yellow uniforms, they also broke into every house with strange languages ​​that they couldn't understand and bayonets that were as bright as bones.The terrified people huddled in their homes, trying to use wooden doors as armor, clutching kitchen knives and hoes as the last armament, for fear that the next moment the strange language that the king of Hades urged would break into their courtyard.

"My father, he just went to the factory to pick up goods like anyone in the past. When the city gate was broken, he didn't care about anything and rushed home, but it was still a step late. At that time, my mother was standing at the gate, right at the gate. At the entrance of the alley, in front of my mother, my father was killed.

When I came out of the house, I saw my father lying on the ground, with a knife pierced through the back of his heart. The knife was so white that it was dazzling. The man turned the butt of his gun, and the knife was stirring in my father's flesh. They were all laughing. , my father was still trembling.As soon as I was about to cry, my mother covered my mouth and dragged me home. "

Xiaohe pointed to the northwest corner of the yard: "There was a stack of haystacks and firewood there. She stuffed me behind the haystack and forbade me to come out. When I refused, my mother smiled and told me that she ran fast and brought Then I can't escape, she runs outside, those people can't catch up with her, and they can't take care of the family, so both of us can survive. She said, when she goes outside and finds a safe place, she will come back Pick me up. She smiled and touched my head, and tears fell from her eyes, which couldn't be contained."

Xiaohe looked at Shu Jing, and smiled mechanically, as if forcing herself to move her facial muscles: "I'm stupid. I actually believed it."

"You're just freaking out." Shu Jing comforted her.

The mother's consoling lie is more fragile than the bubbles in the sun. It doesn't need to be touched, and it is dispersed in the wind.The girl curled up in a ball, biting her lips so as not to cry out, she couldn't see anything, she didn't know what happened outside, and didn't know if her mother escaped, she could only endure it for a second after another The torment, also failed to find any changes in the family.I don't know how long it took, she found herself surrounded by the smell of burning in a trance, but at that time she had already inhaled too much poisonous gas, and she didn't even have the strength to lift the straw off her body, and had no chance to take a look at the world again. stay in darkness forever.

She only showed up at the door, and her mother hid her very well. She was indeed not found, but those people were not all led away as mother expected. After searching for nothing, one of them was thrown away. There was a fire.

Her mother said that she would come back to pick her up. The war had already been won, and her brother hadn't come back yet, so she had been waiting here. Even time had forgotten her.

Both were silent for a while.

Xiaohe suddenly closed her eyes, and said in her cold voice: "I'm not really that stupid, but I wanted to live so much at that time, so I died, this is the punishment."

"Of course this is not punishment. At that time, anyone should be gratified to be able to survive. Xiaohe," Shu Jing held Xiaohe's face, the girl opened her eyes and looked at him with tears in her eyes, "You never You owe it to someone, and you don’t have to do anything in exchange for love and tolerance. Your mother left you with the hope of surviving because you can clean up the house, organize the bookshelves, and cook?”

Tears ran down the girl's apple-like cheeks.

"Silly boy, what you get for doing these things is money, and you have to exchange your sincerity for being cute."

Xiao He sniffed and cried like a child: "Then why didn't they come back?"

Shu Jing let out a long sigh.

During the day, it gradually climbed to a higher place, and the green orchid grass hung its head lazily. There was no wind in the yard, only depressing, low-pitched crying.

The author has something to say:

Homecoming tragedy...